Jeff Kelley (1952–2025)

Trustee

It is with great sadness that we share the news of Jeff Kelley’s passing in Oakland, California, on November 10, 2025. He was 73. He is survived by brother, Mark Kelley; son, Ling Chen Kelley; daughter-in-law, Juan Yu; and grandson, Casimir Kelley.

A practicing art critic since 1977, Jeff Kelley wrote reviews and essays for such publications as Artforum, Art in America, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. From 1993–2005 he taught Art Theory and Criticism at the University of California, Berkeley, and edited Allan Kaprow’s “Essays on the Blurring of Art and Life,” (1993) and authored “Childsplay: The Art of Allan Kaprow,” (2004) both for the University of California Press. He was also the Consulting Curator of Contemporary Art at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from 1998–2008, where he developed the museum’s early contemporary exhibitions and publications programs. In addition, Kelley curated the popular and critically acclaimed “Half-Life of a Dream: Chinese Contemporary Art from the Logan Collection” for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (2008). He wrote about the internationally known artist and activist Ai Weiwei and Chinese painter Liu Xiaodong. More recently he completed extended essays on the paintings of Martin Mull, the ceramic sculptures of John Mason and the video soundscapes of Bay Area artists Deborah Oropallo and Andy Rappaport. Since the death of his wife Hung Liu in 2021, Kelley focused his efforts on the Hung Liu Estate.